


Under The Devil's Eye

by LittleLoops



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Future, M/M, scifi, seikki, seikki in space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-16
Updated: 2013-12-16
Packaged: 2018-01-04 20:19:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1085276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleLoops/pseuds/LittleLoops
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On a partially-built space station at the edge of known space, a company reviewer arrives to determine if a pilot is incompetent, reckless or maybe something even worse...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Under The Devil's Eye

He missed it. The silence.  
Here in the docking bay, everything hummed. The whole space station vibrated as it spun. Unseen mechanisms tapped and whirred. The low ominous rumble was a good thing. A healthy sign from the half-built engineering masterpiece keeping them alive out here in the dark.  
  
The dark. God, he missed it. Between pulses of the ion engine, the recons were utterly silent. Tiny darts sling-shotting around the perimeter at high velocity. With barely any frame of reference, for scale or speed, it was so easy to lose track.  
  
 _Is that what happened? Did I lose it?_  
  
He shook his head. Now was not a good time to start doubting himself. He enviously watched two glistening blurs slide across his view, the familiar pulsing purple glow at their rear as the small craft braked. They went out of sight, but he could picture them. Two recons hovering in front of the force field protecting the outer bay, waiting for security codes to invisibly pass between station and ship. He'd done it a hundred times. Enough to be top of the list for the next alpha post. He bit his bottom lip. He was pretty sure he could kiss that goodbye too.  
  
A loud crackle echoed around the empty room as the force field dropped. He waited for the familiar metallic clang of the ships touching down, and the claw snapping into their underbellies - a precaution in case the artificial gravity failed. Another crackle and the green light flashed on by the door. He didn't move. This wasn't who he was waiting for.  
  
Two men in grey flight suits walked in. One was talking animatedly, sweeping arcs with his arm. The other was trying to ignore him. Successfully. He stopped in front of Seb. As did his companion.  
  
"Go away, Grosjean," he said, bluntly. The other smiled nervously, shuffling his helmet around in his fingers, before scurrying away.  
  
"You really should be nicer to the guy who watches your ass," Seb said, watching Grosjean disappearing through the bulkhead door.  
  
"You watch my ass," he replied with a hint of a mischievous smile.  
  
"Kimi," Seb sighed. "If this doesn't go well," he pointed at the sealed bay door, "I'll be lucky to get a job with Freight."  
  
Kimi grimaced at the thought. Freight. Ugly slow boxes. No hyperdrives of their own, just ambling from gate to gate. _Torture_.  
  
They stood side by side, staring out of the window. The view slid past as the station rotated. Pretty soon the asteroid field would silently glide around as it did every couple of hours. They stayed on Earth time, but it was meaningless out here. The rocks, their reason for being here, always looked so deceptively small, bathed in eerie red from their only natural source of light. Their neighbour, the Devil's Eye, was hauntingly beautiful - a glowing tangle of red gas hurtling towards them through the void. It would dissipate long before it ever reached them.  
  
  
"I'm sorry I was hungover," Kimi said, not looking over. "I should have got my ass out of bed." He snorted. "I kinda thought I was doing you a favour."  
  
Seb smiled. It was true. Kimi's hangover had graced him his first patrol as an alpha. And probably his last.  
  
"Look," Kimi sighed. "I know Tommi. You know Tommi. He's a good guy. Just tell him what happened and you'll be back out there tomorrow." He slapped Seb on the back. "Just don't fuck it up." He winked and picked up his helmet for the sill.  
  
As he got to the bulkhead, he paused. "Seriously, don't fuck it up. Don't leave me with _Mr Fucking Happy_." Seb laughed.  
  
"If you kill him, you can come fly freight with me," he joked, but the smile quickly faded. Not a good time to wisecrack about killing your wingman.  
  
"Fuck. That." Kimi shouted over his shoulder. He threw Seb a small supportive nod and stepped through the sliding door.  
  
\---  
  
A loud klaxon rang a solitary peal through the station, heralding the hyperspace gate opening. It was a sensible distance from the station. Far enough out for the recons to scramble to meet any unexpected visitors. But no fighter escort was needed today, and the noise receded back into the low hum.  
  
Seb tensed as the small ship eased towards them. It would dwarf the recons in the dock, but was still tiny by interstellar standards. _Must have been dropped off_ , he mused, as the knot of apprehension in his stomach twisted a little. _Wouldn't want to spend more than a couple of days on one of those_. He pursed his lips. Tommi was one of the best people the company had. He'd trained all the best pilots, himself included, so it was odd to see him arrive in something so ... pedestrian.  
  
 _Maybe he needed something to carry two people back_.  
  
The knot tightened. He wetted his dry lips and suddenly felt an overwhelming need to try do something with his hair. He repeatedly ran his fingers through the chaos, cursing himself for letting it get so long. His hand froze mid-air as the crackle reverberated off the walls. Seb anxiously brushed off his shirt, straightened his collar, and stood in front of the door.  
The light flashed green. Seb rolled his shoulders one last time and prepared his best apologetic smile. Kimi was right. Tommi was a good guy. A fair guy. Tommi would hear him out. He knew him.  
  
The grey metal slowly slid back. Seb blanched.  
  
It wasn't Tommi.  
  
\---  
  
 _Oh. My. God. He's huge._  
  
As the door closed, Seb found himself leaning around the hulking mound of flesh in front of him, straining to see if - hope against hope - Tommi was hiding behind. He wasn't.  
  
The man cocked an eyebrow as their eyes met, blue assessing blue. Seb straightened up, feeling the painstaking observations sweep up his body, finally settling on his longer-than-regulation hair. The man whisked his tongue over his teeth, releasing a loud clack that resonated against the metal walls.  
  
"Vettel?"  
  
Seb nodded. The man pulled a tablet from a leg pocket, tapping a few times before turning it around and handing it to Seb.  
  
"Huovinen. I'm your reviewer."  
  
Seb stared at the open case file. Stared at his picture staring back at him. His younger self. His shorter hair. He flushed as words jumped out from the page. _Beta Pilot MIA. Unfit for duty. Security Risk._  
  
Along the bottom, in a sliver of margin, was a headshot of the man before him. _Reviewer assigned - Huovinen, Heikki._  
  
"You need to acknowledge it," Huovinen said matter-of-factly, pointing at the pad. Seb nodded, pressing his thumb against it until the beep confirmed it had read his print and scanned the chip embedded beneath it.  
  
 _Unfit for duty._ Seb's shoulders sagged.  
  
Huovinen slid the tablet out of Seb's hand, returning it to his pocket as he retrieved something else. Seb's eyes widened as he saw the bracelets. Huovinen threw Seb another assessing look, his head slowly tilting to his left.  
  
"It's this," he hung the bracelet in front of Seb's face, balancing it on a long finger. "Or, confined to quarters." Seb stared at it. "The latter is acceptable," the reviewer added. Seb heard the hint of 'preferable' in his tone.  
  
"How long is the leash?" Seb asked, trying not to sound resentful as hell, as he held out his wrist. Huovinen snapped the thin metal strip around his wrist, his fingers briefly brushing Seb's skin.  
  
"The station. No exterior doors." He snapped the matching band around his own wrist, glancing at Seb's arm to check the pairing light flickered on. "Or, within a 100m of me."  
  
Seb nodded begrudgingly. _Security risk._  
  
"Shall we?" Huovinen asked, picking up the bag at his feet. "I don't expect this to take long," he added. Seb realised he was staring at the bag, wondering if he should have started packing. He looked up at his reviewer. At those cold, unreadable blue eyes. He had no idea what he was thinking.  
  
\---  
  
  
Beyond the docking bay, the finished parts of the station largely became claustrophobic corridors and confined spaces. Seb led his reviewer toward the lift, fidgeting with the bracelet as he walked. He cringed as his fumbling fingers caught a switch that made its partner beep loudly. The reviewer sighed quietly as he switched it off. They walked in silence the rest of the way.  
  
The lift bay was the last completed section on the bottom of the station. Huovinen watched Seb manually double-locking the lift doors. He was a picture of calm, but Seb could sense his apprehension. It was understandable. These door were about to be all that separated them from the vacuum. The centre section wasn't fully panelled yet, never mind sealed. As the lift jolted, Huovinen grabbed the rail a little too quickly. Seb smiled to himself.  
  
"Do you not like space, Mr Huovinen?"  
  
Huovinen threw him a scornful look, but his knuckles whitened as his long fingers curled more tightly around the support rail.  
  
"Where's Tommi?" Seb finally asked the question gnawing away at him. Huovinen didn't answer. He leant against the wall, staring purposefully through the small window at the emptiness.

The lift gently bumped to a stop. Seb took a deliberately long time to open the doors, enjoying the discomfort rolling off his companion.  
  
The doors eventually opened onto a near-identical bay. Seb stepped out to watch Huovinen peel his hands off the rail and flex them, staring at his fingers thoughtfully.  
  
"Pärmäkoski is too-" he paused to select the right word, " _close_ to you all here. The company feels he would be too _lenient_." His eyes flicked up to met Seb's. "I do not get _too close_. Nor am I _lenient_ , Mr Vettel."  
  
He picked up his bag, and brushed past Seb. "This way?" He was pointing around the corner, down the only possible route. Seb nodded, rooted to the spot.  
  
 _Unfit for duty. Security risk._  
  
He took a deep breath. Maybe freight wouldn't be so bad.

**Author's Note:**

> Something I've been playing with for a while - I needed to get my head far away from anything close to reality.  
> It wasn't intended to be Seikki, but hey - it happened anyway. Would be interested to know if this is worth continuing. It's a bit out of my usual headspace.


End file.
